The surprising origins of the word “lesbian” - Diane J. Rayor

翻译人员: Shiqing Liang 校对人员: Helen Chang

More than 2,500 years ago,

在距今2500多年前

one of ancient Greece’s most celebrated popstars and erotic poets

一位希腊最出名的流行歌星和情色诗人

enraptured listeners.

使听众心醉神迷

In one legend, a prominent Athenian heard his nephew singing one of their songs

有则传说提到，一位雅典名人 听见其侄子唱着其中一首歌

and enjoyed it so much that he asked the boy to teach it to him—

他非常陶醉，便问侄子 能不能教他唱这首歌

“So that I may learn it and die,” he said.

他说：“我学了这首歌便能死而无憾了。”

So, who was this revered figure?

那么，这位备受尊敬的大人物是谁呢？

Her name was Sappho.

她便是萨福

She lived on the Greek island of Lesbos around 600 BCE.

公元前600年左右 她生活在希腊莱斯波斯岛

Like other singer-songwriters of the time,

她如同那个时代其他创作歌手一样

she sang while playing the lyre,

她边唱边弹着竖琴

a stringed instrument from which the term “lyrics” is derived.

歌词（lyrics）一词就来自竖琴（lyre）

But Sappho lyrics offered a uniquely intimate perspective

但萨福的歌词带给人 与众不同的亲密视角

on love, passion, and longing.

她歌颂爱、热情和渴望

She’s the first on record to combine the words “bitter” and “sweet,” for instance,

例如，她是记载里首个 把“苦”和“甜”合成一个词

to describe at once the thrills and devastations of romance.

来描绘在浪漫关系中 同时存在的震颤与毁灭的人

Sappho was an aristocrat thought to have married a man,

萨福是一个贵族 后世认为她嫁了一个男人

though none of her surviving work mentions him.

尽管她现存的所有作品中从未提到过他

It does reference other family as well as festivals,

她的作品里提到过其他家人、节日

colorful clothing, and growing old.

多彩的服饰，以及衰老

But Sappho is best known for her lyrics about homoerotic desire for women.

但萨福最著名的是 歌词里对女性的同性欲望

In one song, as her female companion departs tearfully, Sappho says,

在一首歌里，与她的女性爱人 挥泪而别时，她说道

“let me remind you / ... the lovely times we shared.”

“就让我来提醒你... 我们消磨过的美好光阴。”

She describes flower garlands, perfumes, “and,” she says,

她描绘花环、香水，还说

“on soft beds / ... you quenched your desire.”

“在柔软的床上...你释出欲望。”

In another, she describes a friend in a distant city,

在另一首诗里，她这样描写 一位千里之外的朋友

“Pacing far away, her gentle heart devoured by powerful desire,

“踱步远行，她温柔的心 被强烈的欲望吞噬，”

she remembers slender Atthis.”

“她无法忘记身段苗条的阿特斯。”

The word “Lesbian” means someone from Lesbos,

“蕾丝边（Lesbian)”一词原指 来自莱斯波斯岛（Lesbos）的人

but, because of Sappho, it now also describes a woman who’s gay.

但因为萨福，现在这个词 也被用来形容女同性恋者

In ancient Greece, the norm was for everyone to marry and have children.

古希腊的社会规范是 每个人都得结婚生子

While men were usually permitted to have homosexual relationships

尽管男性通常会被允许有同性恋关系

based on their status, women weren’t.

根据他们的地位而定，女性却不能

But it appears that, on Lesbos at this time,

但好像在那时的莱斯波斯岛上

aristocratic women generally had more freedom.

贵族女性通常拥有更多的自由

Yet the details of Sappho’s life remain mysterious,

但萨福的生活细节仍不为人知

partially because only fragments of her poetry survive.

一部分是因为她的现存诗歌仅剩片段

In ancient times, however, so much of it persisted

但古时萨福有非常多的诗歌

that it seemed it would last forever.

就像这些诗歌会永远流传

Admirers performed Sappho cover songs and committed her poetry

仰慕者表演萨福的诗歌 并把她的诗歌留存在

to papyrus, parchment, and pottery.

莎草纸、羊皮纸和陶器上

Three centuries after Sappho’s death,

萨福去世三个世纪后

a Greek author declared that her words would endure

一位希腊作家声称她的作品会恒久流传

“as long as ships sail from the Nile.”

“只要船只还会从尼罗河上扬帆起航。”

Another century later,

又过去一个世纪之后

the Library of Alexandria housed nine scrolls of her work,

亚历山大图书馆里 存放了九大卷轴她的作品

numbering over 10,000 lines.

总共有超过五万行

But natural forces eroded the collection.

但这些收藏遭到了自然力量的侵蚀

And monks, tasked with preserving ancient writing,

而负责保护古代著作的僧侣

likely neglected or destroyed her work.

则很可能无视或摧毁了她的作品

One 2nd century Christian leader called Sappho

公元2世纪，一位基督教领袖称萨福是

“a whore who sang about her own licentiousness.”

“歌颂自身放荡的妓女。”

Later, a Pope and Archbishop ordered her poetry burned.

之后，有位教皇和大主教 下令烧掉她的诗歌

Almost all of it had vanished by the Middle Ages.

她的作品在中世纪前几乎全被销毁了

Then, about a century ago,

此后，大约在一个世纪前

people began rediscovering Sappho’s poetry—

人们在一个像古埃及垃圾场的地方 重新发现了萨福的诗歌

in locations like an ancient Egyptian garbage dump.

Now, we have around 700 lines,

现在我们还有大概700行她的诗歌

representing less than 10% of Sappho’s total known work.

仅是萨福所有已知作品的不到10%

We only have one complete poem of hers.

我们仅有一首完整的萨福的诗歌

About a dozen others are substantial, but most are mere fragments.

大约十几首诗歌有较为完整 但绝大多数都仅有片段

New pieces of Sappho’s songs probably will be found.

我们可能还会找到 萨福诗歌的一些新片段

Some may already be sitting in museum archives,

有些片段可能已在博物馆档案室里

to be revealed when technology allows scholars

一旦科技能让学者翻动 过于脆弱的卷轴阅读，就能被揭晓

to read through scrolls too fragile to unroll.

What we are currently left with is an incomplete record—

我们现在仅有的是不完整的记录

and many historical rumors.

以及许多历史上的传闻

Ovid insisted that Sappho fell in love with a ferryman

奥维德坚称萨福曾与一名船夫相爱

and, upon being rejected, leapt from a cliff to her death.

但遭到了拒绝后，坠崖而亡

Another tale asserts that she ran a girls’ school

另一则传闻则说她办了一所女子学校

and those mentioned in her poems were merely students

那些她诗中提到的人 只不过是让她有着柏拉图式喜爱的学生

for whom she felt platonic affection.

Current consensus is that these stories,

目前的共识则是，

这些奚落萨福或否认其同性恋的故事

which ridicule Sappho or deny her work’s homoeroticism,

are probably all untrue artifacts of misogyny and homophobia.

可能都是出于厌女症 和恐同症而捏造的谣言

Despite the distortions of the intervening millennia,

尽管几千年中遭遇了各种扭曲

Sappho’s words reach across time and resonate today.

萨福的词句仍穿越时间 使今天的人产生共鸣

More than 2,000 years ago, she wrote:

在两千多年前，她写道：

“I say someone in another time will remember us”

“我相信其他時代的某人会记得我们”

And, thankfully, we do.

幸好，我们现在记得